Dana 44's a little side project..

[Soren Frimodt]

Well got my hands one these for under 50£, the pair, so just had to try them out:

They are off of a 1979 Jeep Cherokee Chief, the car was scrapped in the late 80's so the axles haven't turned a great deal of times. The low mileage is obvious on both the rotors and drums as none of them has even the slightest edge.

First off we noticed that the lugs were 6 on 140mm so Nissan Patrol (or toyota) fits perfectly, and seeing as Patrols are plentiful in Denmark, and almost all has rusted away, finding wheels is no issue.

Next up was to find out how easy it would be to graft LR propshafts to the axles. And to all luck, the wide U-Joint as per Series and early Defender fits perfectly in the Yoke!

Have ordered various brakeparts from the states, which is my first order from over-there, so interested in seeing just how long it takes to ship it over here.

Today I tore into the rear axle and disassembling the semifloating axle is a piece of cake. Although the full floating design of rover axles and others is far superior, this is however a lot easier to disassemble.

Removed all the bracketry, and saved it for later use, the springsadles fits perfectly to Series springs:

Then I decided to weld the axle tubes to the pumpkin to make sure they don't work loose, I don't know how likely it is to happen, but its cheap insurance:

And here is a picture of the 30 spline shafts, measuring about 3mm larger in diameter than a 24 spline rover, so nothing major:

Now, I have no clue as to what exactly I'm going to use them for, so will leave it bracketless for now, might slam them under the 88", might build a buggy, who knows?

Any questions, just shoot!

[Soren Frimodt]

Forgot to mention they are 4.09 ratio

[landroversforever]

Always found the semi floating design a bit strange!

how do these compare strength-wise to a normal Rover axle?

[Soren Frimodt]

Well they are undoubtedly stronger than any Rover axle, bigger shafts with more splines and a 8,25" ring gear and a quite large pinion. Furthermore they have the advantage of being in a cast housing giving the bearing caps much more strength, and less likelihood of them deflecting. The beauty of these axles for a LR is that there is no less ground clearance than the stock Rover housing but with considerably more strength.

Now the front has the diff in the correct side for a land rover transfer, though it sits a tad too far outboard, one of the leafsprings is actually mounted to the pumpkin and still the spring sits outside a LR chassis.

So on the front I'm not sure what to do, keeping it leafs is the easiest, but it will depend on what I'm going to use them for.

Further, there is a lot more steering lock to lock, than any Rover/Jap axle I've seen.

[dirtydiesel]

Nice find Soren, what style are the front knuckles?

Today I tore into the rear axle and disassembling the semifloating axle is a piece of cake. Although the full floating design of rover axles and others is far superior, this is however a lot easier to disassemble.

I disagree that a fullyfloating design is far superior Soren, it has its advantages, but I have never had to change a wheel bearing on a semifloating axle,

I have badly beaten the semifloating gwagon rear axle without having to ever replace anything on them, same with the back of my Y60 patrol 40k on 35"s no issues at all.

[tacr2man]

used to replace the axle bearings on jeeps fairly often in Australia , gen parts were very expensive !

[Soren Frimodt]

Well the only advantage I see, with regards to bearing life, is that it is always lubricated with gearoil. But on a proper Landy (ie. Series) it is too Furthermore the bearing is no bigger than one of the two on a Rover, so hence it gets more load. But anyway, bearing life is not my main concern, strength, and more so, drive-ability is. And I've seen both toys and nissans break semifloating rear axles, and when they do, you put all the stress on the one bearing, and if you keep running it like this eventually the bearing will fail and you could loose your wheel entirely, really hampering the truck. Whereas the Rover full floater setup can drive for years on end with a broken or no halfshaft.

But again as you say each have their advantages, and semifloating is both simpler and lighter. Making this axle incredibly light for how strong it is. (haven't weighed it yet though. but definitely lighter than a Sal's)

You ask about knuckle style, not sure I understand what you mean? It is open C with two joints similar to a steering joint just bigger. But will get a close-up picture for you tomorrow

[dirtydiesel]

used to replace the axle bearings on jeeps fairly often in Australia , gen parts were very expensive !

That'll be the front unit bearings on Dana 30's, much newer and much weaker than sorens 44's

Incidentally Dana 30 front unit bearings can be had for about £45 now.

[Soren Frimodt]

As promised, a close-up of the knuckle:

[tacr2man]

no the rear axle bearings

[bill van snorkle]

As promised, a close-up of the knuckle:

WP_000423.jpg

A mate had a d44 under the front a CJ7. They are not the strongest diff around. A hilux diff is stronger and the centre can be fitted into LandRover housings. The open knuckles/axle tubes and non greasable U joints present maintenance issues when used in wet. muddy conditions, I seen many a seized U joint and mud/gravel filled front axle housings on Jeeps and Ford F250's over here. Gravel machines nice stress rising grooves in halfshafts, causing them to fail outboard of the carrier, sometimes making them difficult to remove. A broken U joint occasionally wipes out the steering knuckle (swivel housing or yoke).I'd suggest to swap the D44s for a set of GU Nissan assemblies if they are common over there Soren.

[Soren Frimodt]

As we all now, axle choice is like religion, so don't think we'll ever agree. However I appreciate your input Bill, and finding GU axles is an easy enough task here in Denmark. But the crazy prices on parts scares me right off! When I use my vehicles offroad I want to be able to have fun without having that bug on the back of my brain that tells me "if you break something, boy is it going to be expensive!" That's the very reason why I run completely stock Series 3 front axle on my 80" (bar the airlocker) This way finding parts, and paying for them is something you do with the blink of an eye, no worries. Sure it breaks more often, but I rarely break halfshafts, mostly R&P's from landing the frontend hard. But with the tools I carry to events I can have it out in less than 30 mins. So while the others talk around me I just work.

And I can obviously see the weaknesses and bad points of the Dana 44, but so could I on the Dana 30/35 combo I had on my Cherokee, but these things took a beating not from this world, and stood the task! Again jumping the front way up high and landing with wheelspin from the healthy 4.0 HO on 33"s all day long no problem whatsoever. So I do believe that these will hold up quite well, being a Rover guy from ever since I was born have taught me mechanical sympathy almost to perfection, and when we compete in organized events I so rarely break anything because I keep just below that threshold of destructive driving. A feat that many others lack, which will then see a ugly old Series beat a top-of-the-line 90" with enough equipment to send it to Mars! A scenario I'm sure you guys will have seen as well.

[bill van snorkle]

It's horses for courses I guess Soren.There are so many GU nissans in wrecking yards over here, that for anything other than service items, one never needs to buy at stealership prices.

[Soren Frimodt]

Yeah okay, well they are not quite that common around here But there are quite a few though, and many of them have been scrapped even before they were 10 years old because of rust. But they are used a great deal for offroading in Denmark, so most CV's, lockers etc has been harvested over time, really upping the price. Further they seem to bend a lot of them too, in the housing itself. So that means that even the housings are sought after.

[nicks90]

You're right about the d35 being troopers! They should be weaker than a LR axle, but they take massive abuse without complaint, partly due to the shaft's having incredible flex and the diff being so much more rigid.

I'd love a d44 rear / front d35 combo from a grand Cherokee with the quadratrak2 LSD's in them under mydefender, would be awesome with superb turning circle. (My GC will out turn my 90, even though its 20" longer and has big wheels)

Them d44's you have will be killer under your series.

Edited June 7, 2013 by nicks90